A quick catch-up: Westeros is on the brink of war as Jon Snow (Kit Harington), Cersei Lannister (Lena Headey), and Daenerys Targaryen (Emilia Clarke) rally support, while the mysterious White Walkers move closer and closer to the Seven Kingdoms. With just 13 episodes left (six more are coming in the eighth and final season), showrunners David Benioff and D.B. Weiss must wrap up all the loose ends created in George R. R. Martin's original sprawling novels—and that means answers may come faster than ever before.

Production on the show started later than any previous season, pushing the premiere date to July rather than the usual April start time. The delay wasn’t a cruel prank on the fans—the producers had no choice but to wait for snow to film the scenes that take place in Winterfell and north of The Wall.

“At the end of this season, ‘Winter is here’—[so] sunny weather doesn’t really serve our purposes anymore,” Benioff told Entertainment Weekly in summer 2016. “So we kind of pushed everything down the line, so we could get some grim grey weather even in the sunnier places that we shoot.”

‘Game of Thrones’: 13 reasons Season 7 will be the most intense of the HBO series

1
of 14

Courtesy of HBO / Game of Thrones

One final Spoiler Alert

This is your last chance.

SPOILER ALERT.

Game of Thrones is fond of killing major characters, pulling major plot twists, and shocking the audience every chance it can get, giving even more meaning to the words “spoiler alert.” The next slides will discuss events from the series through all six seasons.

Continue at your own spoiler risk.

Courtesy of HBO / Game of Thrones

13. The dragons are bigger than ever—and there’s lots of fire

Back in Season 1, Daenerys Targaryen entered a fire with three dragon eggs and emerged unscathed with three little creatures flying around her. Those dragons have only gotten bigger each season, and Season 7 will feature the biggest dragons ever seen on the series thus far.

“The dragons this year are the size of 747s,” director Matt Shakman said to Entertainment Weekly. “Drogon is the biggest of the bunch—his flame is 30 feet in diameter!”

But that’s not all. The dragons are going to be front and center for a battle in Season 7, and they’ll be heating things up quite a bit.

“In one battle scene we set more stuntmen on fire than have ever been simultaneously set on fire,” showrunner David Benioff said to Entertainment Weekly. “Our stunt coordinator really wanted to get in the Guinness Book of World Records for this.”

“One sequence has 73 fire burns, and that itself is a record,” stunt coordinator Rowley Irlam said. “No film or TV show has ever done that in a whole show, let alone in one sequence. We also set 20 people on fire at one time, which is also a record. I think in Saving Private Ryan they had 13 on a beach, and on Braveheart they had 18 partial burns. Because of the nature of our attacking animals”—that's tech-speak for “three massive fire-breathing dragons”—“we had the liberty to expand on that.”

Courtesy of HBO / Game of Thrones

12. The White Walkers are coming

Winter is finally here in Westeros—and that means the White Walkers aren’t far behind. After being mostly unseen through the first few seasons of the series, the chillingly cold villains are making their way down to Westeros, gearing up for the biggest battle this world has ever seen. Jon Snow has already fought the White Walkers, and has tried to warn the Seven Kingdoms of their impending arrival.

Courtesy of HBO / Game of Thrones

11. Bran will be revealing more answers

After using his powers as a sort of oracle in Season 6 to effectively time travel, Bran (Isaac Hempstead Wright) confirmed a major fan theory that will shape the final two seasons of the series. Visions of Bran’s father, Ned Stark, in the past revealed that his thought-to-be-bastard brother Jon Snow is actually the son of his aunt Lyanna Stark and Rhaegar Targaryen, making Jon a relative of Khaleesi herself, Daenerys Targaryen. (It gives him a pretty damn good claim on the Iron Throne, too.) Bran’s mindwarp abilities left a friend hurt last season (poor Hodor), but gave Bran some crucial information. Chances are, he’ll be revealing even more this year.

Courtesy of HBO / Game of Thrones

10. Cersei Lannister is on the Iron Throne—but for how long?

Winter is coming in Westeros, but so is war. After taking the Iron Throne for herself and basically killing all her opposition in King’s Landing, Cersei Lannister still has her brother Jaime (Nikolaj Coster-Waldau) by her side, but plenty to worry about. Winter has officially arrived, the people of Westeros are hungry, and Daenerys Targaryen has her sights set on the throne. With Jon Snow the new King in the North, Cersei has enemies closing in from land and by sea.

Courtesy of HBO / Game of Thrones

9. The relatives may finally meet

After six seasons of being on the same series, but never having their storylines directly overlap due to the disparate geography of Game of Thrones, Kit Harington and Emilia Clarke may actually share a scene together. The show may save this for Season 8, but with Daenerys coming to Westeros and Jon building his army in the North, the two characters are on a crash course. Adding to the fun, of course, is wondering whether the two will know about their shared heritage when they meet.

Courtesy of HBO / Game of Thrones

8. Khaleesi is ready for battle and coming to Westeros—finally

Daenerys Targaryen finally has what she needs to make it to Westeros. After six seasons of wandering through the eastern continent of Essos, Khaleesi is making her way to the Seven Kingdoms by way of Dragonstone, the island where she was born. The Mother of Dragons put together a dream team of an army together at the end of Season 6, uniting the fleet of House Greyjoy; the forces of House Tyrell, by way of absolute badass Lady Olenna (Diana Rigg); and the swords of Dorne's House Martell to support her. Along with her three dragons and thousands of Unsullied soldiers, Daenerys has enough firepower to finally put up a fight for the Iron Throne through already war-torn Westeros.

Courtesy of HBO / Game of Thrones

7. Sam may unearth some long-lost secrets

Samwell Tarly (John Bradley-West) set sail for the Citadel in Oldtown to study up and become the new Maester for the Night’s Watch. Sam has a badass (and super-rare) Valyrian steel sword in tow, which he stole from his father’s castle, along with his son and Wilding lover Gilly (Hannah Murray) as he heads south. The Citadel is the epicenter of knowledge and history for the world of Westeros, and Sam has a fondness for reading books—a perfect combination for unearthing revelations about the mysterious magic disrupting the show's otherwise earthbound political dramas.

Courtesy of HBO / Game of Thrones

6. There’s a new King in the North

After coming back to life to fulfill his Night's Watch vows, Jon Snow has restored Stark rule to Winterfell and earned the backing of the North's great houses. Snow took down the absolutely evil Ramsay Bolton (Iwan Rheon) during the incredible Battle of the Bastards episode from Season 6, ridding the show of its most maniacal villain. Now joined by salty pragmatist Davos Seaworth (Liam Cunningham) and the cunning warrior Tormund Giantsbane (Kristofer Hivju), Snow is preparing for the ultimate war against the White Walkers—just as Westeros is ready to explode in another war. He’ll need all the support he can get.

Courtesy of HBO / Game of Thrones

5. Sansa gives the Starks some power—or does she?

Sansa Stark (Sophie Turner) gave her half-brother Jon Snow a huge assist by delivering the knights of the Vale as reinforcements during the “Battle of the Bastards” against Ramsay Bolton, ensuring a victory. Sansa left her tormentor Ramsay with the dogs and took her rightful place back in Winterfell, the Stark's ancestral home. Although Sansa told Snow they can’t trust Petyr "Littlefinger" Baelish (Aiden Gillen), there are hints that she's learned how to use his selfishness to her advantage. Expect some drama from Sansa and Littlefinger as they maneuver their way through new alliances—and don’t expect Snow and Sansa to be best friends just yet. There might be a Stark power struggle in the North.

Courtesy of HBO / Game of Thrones

4. The “Clegane Bowl” is a real possibility

After being left for dead by Arya back in Season 4, Sandor "The Hound" Clegane (Rory McCann) found his way to the Brotherhood Without Banners, a ragtag group of former soldiers roaming the Riverlands. With the Hound back in the fold, fans have been speculating that he could face off against the zombified Lannister bodyguard formerly known as Gregor "The Mountain" Clegane (Hafþór "Thor" Júlíus Björnsson), now going by the name Ser Robert Strong. “Cleganebowl”—the nickname for their long-rumored clash—might even be a more entertaining matchup than Floyd Mayweather Jr. vs. Conor McGregor.

Game of Throne

3. There will be more Tormund and Brienne action

Season 6 wasn't all gore and backstabbing—audiences loved the undeniable chemistry between Tormund and Brienne of Tarth (Gwendoline Christie). And with fans all but endorsing the sparks between these fearsome warriors, it looks like the two will get some more scenes together in Season 7.

Funnily enough, one of the best relationships in the series wasn’t even planned: “It’s great because there was no dialogue written for that, or major stage direction, there was just a line like, ‘He stares at Brienne because he’s never seen a woman like that before.’ And then we let the actors do what they do,” show creator David Benioff said in an interview with Entertainment Weekly.

Courtesy of HBO / Game of Thrones

2. Tyrion’s ready to (help) Daenerys rule

After ruling Mereen in Dany’s absence and proving his leadership skills in Season 6, Tyrion (Peter Dinklage) was officially named Hand of the King to the Mother of Dragons. Tyrion proved to Daenerys that his knowledge of Westeros—a place she has never been, but wants to rule—would be valuable, and now he’s her right-hand man as she gets ready to invade and take back her birthright. Tyrion’s return to Westeros should be pretty interesting, considering he killed his father Tywin Lannister (Charles Dance) before fleeing with the help of his brother Jamie and his friend Varys (Conleth Hill).

Courtesy of HBO / Game of Thrones

1. The band may (finally) get back together

When Jon Snow and Sansa Stark reunited for the first time in years in Season 6, it got fans excited about the half-siblings being joined by another sister in Season 7: Arya Stark (Maisie Williams). Arya is on her way home after killing the treacherous Walder Frey, getting revenge for the deaths of her brother Robb and mother, Catelyn. The siblings have been oh-so-close to reuniting over the years, and the stars could finally align with three of the Stark siblings back in Winterfell.